who actually paints signs anymore??

thats why god invented the plotter, duh.

Jack Daniel's meets the Sign Painter from Greg Almeida on Vimeo.

a little to forced hip, but this seems to be all the rage these days, they should show him stressing out about paying bills, customers who don't pay, distributors sending the wrong materials, re-do's, being to hung over to work (it is god awful JD after all) and simply looking at porn motorcycle sites on the internet, Thats reality ;).

Mentor

I had the opportunity to visit with my good friend and mentor, Tim Peterson, in Spearfish, SD. He was the first to put a pinstriping brush in my hands and I owe him alot. He runs a one man sign shop and has no computers or plotters. All of his work is laid out by hand and either hand painted or hand carved. He is a true inspiration.

 

 

Some of his pastel work

A very old panel I did for him...one of my first panels actually

His recent work. No computer, so no digital photos.

Here is some of his work in Deadwood, SD

Some more sign work in Deadwood by another friend, Griz. These are all reverse gilded and hand-painted glass pieces.

A true keeper of the craft

I have been fortunate to meet Dave Smith a few times at Letterhead meets (Sign Writer gatherings for those of you not in the know) throughout the years. The first time I met him was at a meet in London. He was working on a piece that I thought must have been designed on a computer...fat chance! It was all originally drawn by hand then all line work and fill in work was completed entirely by hand with a brush. This guy is absolutely incredible and was and is an inspiration to me. This video is the first I have seen that runs through the many processes and techniques in the reverse glass signage world...virtually non of which is present in the states. You have to travel to Europe, mostly, to see these works of art. I would say that there are only10-15 guys in the world who still make a living doing this...the rest of us just play on our own time when we can.

Check out the technique called "brilliant cut" glass where he uses a counter balance to work his glass piece over a cutting wheel...absolutely remarkable!

David A Smith - Sign Artist from Danny Cooke on Vimeo.